No Long-Term Cognitive Benefits of Breastfeeding (CNN)

Some advantages at 3 years, but not 5

Breastfeeding had no long-term impact on the cognitive development of children, CNN reported.

A study of more than 7,000 full-term Irish newborns followed for 5 years showed no differences in vocabulary, problem-solving skills, or behavior between breastfed and bottle-fed babies. Children who were breastfed for at least 6 months had significantly lower rates of hyperactivity and improved problem-solving skills at 3, but the differences were no longer significant at 5.

Reported online in Pediatrics, "the study fits well in the body of literature that long-term benefits of breastfeeding look a whole lot smaller or nonexistent if you properly control for your confounding variables," said Brooke Orosz, PhD, of Essex County College in Montclair, N.J. An adviser to Fed Is Best, Orosz was not involved in the breastfeeding study.